helping you make Torah the heart of your home
(This post was originally published January, 2012. We hope it is a blessing to you this year, too.) We are part way through the winter months and it is exciting to think that the spring feasts will soon be upon us. We are already making preparations for Passover this year.
As our story draws to a close… As we approached Jerusalem, I got that same sick feeling I had gotten when we came up with my Father, many moons ago. Jerusalem was still completely desecrated. No children played in the streets. The shrubs were overgrown like a jungle and the
We love music, particularly around feast days. Here are some of our favorite songs for Chanukah. We hope you enjoy them. 🙂 You can get more Maccabeats music here. And you can get more music from the Yeshiva Boys Choir here. Have a happy Chanukah!
And then the Maccabees… Judas shouted among the people, “Don’t collect the spoils yet! We still have some fighting to do!” And sure enough, as we looked up, some of the soldiers that had fled into the mountains were reappearing. But before they could do anything, we had burned all
We continue our story… We all gathered at Maspha, along with any like minded believers we could find. We had often gathered there to pray in the past, and we knew we’d be doing plenty of it now. Odds had been against us in the past, but this time I
And then… Judas took over as our captain, just as Father told him to. We fought many battles, so valiantly and fiercely that the enemy began to fear us. So Judas played the part. He put on armor and flashed a huge sword, so that he looked like a giant!
Meanwhile, back with the Maccabees… We took several more cities, and knocked down the pagan altars. Israel was beginning to follow the Torah again. My Father walked with his head high, proud to lead the people back to righteousness. I remember one day he was planning an advance on a
The story continues… I began loading the donkeys again. I was getting good at that. But unlike our trip to Jerusalem, I was very excited about this trip. We were going to nearby Gophna. There was a smaller number of soldiers there. We had one goal. Remove the enemy, and
The Maccabee story continues… The towers were strange and the large stone walls were defended by Greek soldiers. The beautiful city of David had been destroyed and rebuilt. It looked like a scary fortress, rather than the city of Elohim. A pagan altar at the end of the street
Our tale of the Maccabees begins…. My name is Jonathan. I have four brothers, Simeon, Eleazar, Joannan, and Judas. When I was young, terrible times came to our people. We were told we could no longer obey the precious Torah of our fathers. A strong and mighty, but desperately
Our home is in full gear getting ready for Chanukah. We are planning the treats we will make and counting down the days. There has been some controversy about Chanukah because it is not listed as a biblical feast. The “miracle” of the oil cannot be substantiated with historical evidence.
We had a delightful time this afternoon making an “India” box. We will put our change in it, and then send the money to GCGM orphanage in India. We started with a box from dishwasher detergent packs. Then the kids drew pictures of things that make them think
This has been an amazing feast season so far. Doug said it best when he said, “There’s just a good spirit here.” This is our sixth time through the feasts, but each time is so different. Leading up to Yom Kippur, I was able to have some wonderful discussions with
Sukkot is a mere 2 weeks away. What is the point? What is this feast about? How will we serve our Elohim this year? My vision is that we join together as one people serving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I don’t care what your sukkah is built
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work,
This is a reprint of an article from Torah family e-magazine. Enjoy! Time for a Shofar, Shofar for a Time by Jack Waid I don’t claim to be an “expert” on any subject, especially when discussing issues from the scriptures. However, I do claim to have an understanding of
It’s that time of year again. We are very anxious to get out to our Sukkah again! This is our fifth year keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. It is really hard to believe that we have been blessed by the truths of Torah for that long. We have grown in